Newsletter – January 2015

ABA presented its premiere of “NUTCRACKER DREAMS” on December 19th, 2014 with great success. ABA students are now preparing for YAGP competition in Austin, TX.

Performances

ABA's last performance "NUTCRACKER DREAMS" was a great success. Reserve the date for our spring performance on June 14, 2015 at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, MD. It’s the perfect event for a family allowing your children to see the "Arts" in action, or a dance school field trip. The level of performance and commitment from our professional training program students is phenomenal. Watch our Nutcracker trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLsJ-JCIcrI

Inside this issue:

Performances

Community

Involvement

Competition 2015

Auditions 2015

Photos

Testimonials

A Peek Inside ABA

Links Mme. Akhmedova

The Akhmedova Ballet Academy is

dedicated to providing the finest

quality ballet training utilizing the

Vaganova Method with personal and

artistic mentoring to prepare young

talented dancers to become strong

and fully developed artists for the

21st century ready to take their

places in major dance companies

around the world.

Community Involvement

Thanksgiving Parade 2014 Senior facility outreach performances

As part of our outreach program, ABA students performed the “Nutcracker Dreams” at the senior communities Leisure World, Village of Rockville, Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, and Crescent Cities Center. ABA was also part of the annual Silver Spring Thanksgiving Parade.

YAGP Competiton 2015

ABA students will compete in Austin, TX from February 27 to February 28 this year. Please follow us and watch the live streaming at the Youth America Grand Prix website http://yagp.org/. All students will perform two classical and one contemporary solo as well as an ensemble piece.

Auditions

The first audition for ABA’s 2015/2016 Professional Training Program will take

place on January 24, 2015 at the Akhmedova Ballet Academy, 10126 Colesville

Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901. Only a limited number of slots are available.

Interested students can audition at that time or send in an audition video. Auditions for

the Silver Spring and Cape Cod Summer Intensives will also be held at the same time.

To register for the audition please go to our website http://akhmedovaballet.org/ to

download the registration form. For additional information, please email Mme.

Akhmedova at akhmedovaballet@gmail.com, look for our advertisement in the Dec./Jan.

edition of Pointe magazine or go to https://www.facebook.com/AkhmedovaBallet.

Photos

Nutcracker Dreams party scene Nutcracker Dreams finale

Russian Romperu

After the show Backstage before Nutcracker Dreams

Thank you to Vihao Pham for the great photos http://www.vihaopham.com - Vihao Pham Photography, Kevin Gillogly https://www.flickr.com/photos/mocokevin/sets/72157649843956281/ and Ramaciandra Carta .

In addition to our corporate sponsors, ABA is supported in part by funding from the Montgomery County government and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.

Testimonial

The Akhmedova Ballet Academy’s (ABA) Professional Training Program (PTP) is by far the best

PTP program in the Metropolitan area. A lot of research was done before deciding on our

daughter attending the ABA year round program. There were a couple of things that really

stood out compared to the other PTP programs. The first, of course, is the ballet teacher.

Mme. Akhmedova has an amazing resume of both a professional ballet career and teaching

career. It is Mme. Akhmedova’s “semi-private” training model, utilizing the classical Vaganova

method, which helps her students grow in strength and technique quickly. The fact that her

class levels do not exceed eight students allows each student to get the personal corrections

needed to know their weaknesses and their strengths and then apply them. Students also have

one-on-one rehearsal time with Mme. Akhmedova almost daily. Students take classes in

technique, pointe, repertoire, contemporary, character and Pilates. Mme. Akhmedova is not

only a teacher to her students, but is also a mentor and friend, who is approachable and

honest. Lastly, we have come to appreciate the sense of “family” that the students and

families feel being a part of ABA. We are blessed to be part of this family and know great

things are ahead for our daughter being trained here at ABA.

Sandra Kinnaman – PTP parent

A Peek inside ABA

ABA students preparing for the Nutcracker Dreams performance

ABA students at the Thanksgiving Parade 2014

ABA students Jessi and Natalie visited First State Ballet to see ABA graduate Abigail Kasten perform in Giselle. Great job Abigail !

Links:

Jacqueline Akhmedova – Founder and Artistic Director of ABA

Mme. Akhmedova graduated with honors from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Tashkent,

Uzbekistan, and the Ukrainian Academy of Dance in Kiev, with Bachelors and Masters Degrees

in Ballet Performance, Pedagogy and Choreography, she quickly moved into the world of

European classical dance performance.

In a professional career of more than 20 years, she was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet

in Tashkent, the Munich State Opera Ballet, and the Vienna State Opera Ballet, dancing every

major role in the classical and contemporary repertoire.

She has worked with the world’s greatest choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier,

Rudolph Nureyev, Hans van Manen, and Peter Wright. She has toured extensively across Europe

and performed as guest artist in major companies worldwide.

Her students have won such prestigious competitions as the Youth America Grand Prix, Prix de

Lausanne, and Tanzolymp. They have gone on to successful careers in such companies as

American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, San Francisco

Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Dresden Ballet, Staatsballett Munich, Staatsballett Berlin and

Stuttgart Ballett. She has also judged influential international ballet competitions and taught

master classes in Italy, Portugal, New York City, Austria and Japan.

In her professional teaching career, Mme. Akhmedova prepares students and choreographs for

them for competitions and advises them on their careers, helping them pursue their dreams of

dancing with professional companies. After retiring as a professional ballet dancer, she started a

professional training program at the Anna Wyman School of Dance Arts in Vancouver, Canada.

In 2001 she was invited to the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC where she taught as

a senior teacher for 7 years. Then for 2 years, she was the ballet master for City Dance Ensemble

and the City Dance Conservatory Ballet Program at the Strathmore Center for the Arts.

She is the Founder and Artistic Director of her own school, the Akhmedova Ballet Academy, in

Silver Spring, MD. Her vision for ABA is to provide the finest quality ballet training utilizing the

Vaganova Method. Her Professional Training Program offers a well-rounded training with

personal and artistic mentoring to prepare young dancers to become strong and fully developed

artists ready to take their places in major dance companies around the world.

Akhmedova Ballet Foundation, Inc. is a 501c(3) charitable tax-exempt non-profit organization